City council to tinker with recall proposal

The Memphis City Council will have to do some more tweaking on a proposed referendum that would subject its members to recall just like the mayor.

Earlier this month, council members approved placing the matter on the ballot in November 2008.

The referendum authorizes a recall only after council members have served two years of their four-year term. And a previous city attorney's opinion concerning the recall of the mayor said a recall can't occur until the next general election -- even if that's at the end of term.

So some members said the process was meaningless if members couldn't be recalled until their term was nearly over.

But on Tuesday, council attorney Allan Wade disputed that contention, telling council members that members seated on the council in January 2009 could be recalled well before the end of their term.

The real problem with the referendum, Wade said, is the provision requiring petitions calling for a recall election to be signed by voters living within each particular district. That's contrary to state law, which Wade says simply requires petitions to be signed by 10 percent of voters citywide.

Councilman Brent Taylor argued that it was unfair for district council members-- elected by residents in a particular district -- to be recalled by voters in other districts.

Wade said if council members want to have a district-only provision, they need to lobby the state legislature.

Council members agreed to send the matter back to committee. That could mean that the new council, which meets for the first time in January, may wind up taking up the issue.